OK, its been 4 months since my last blog. I've been a little busy. Frankly, I made have had the time to blog, but not the energy... or the energy (and ideas) but not the time. Nevertheless, here I am with something to report. I am not holding back on this blog, but I am not being condescending either. I am guilty. However, I have, over the past couple of years had the fortune, blessing, divine intervention, (call it what you like) to experience a very illuminating and life changing perspective from which to view my life and my existence. And from that experience, contemplate my purpose and direction for the time I am given on this planet. I would speculate that most people in the "enlightened" nation of the USA have done little or none of either. So, if you don't want your toes stepped on, move on to the next blog or webpage, go check to see how your 401K is doing, or go back to shopping Amazon and Ebay. I'll be here nursing my own sore toes.
Did you know that there are about a billion people on the planet that live on less than a dollar a day? We here in the affluent West, the developed nations, the all-powerful, all-consuming nations of the world, eat too much, buy too much, and consume too much. We waste and think little about conservation. While nearly 20% of the population of the world live each day on little more than we pay for a candy bar. Now, I do not advocate giving these people large sums of money to buy more food. It sounds odd, but money itself does not solve the problem of poverty. What if someone who made a dollar a day could make two dollars a day? I mean, if you could double your income wouldn't you be excited? How much more impact would doubling a dollar-a-day income make for those people than doubling a $50K, $80K, $100K. Suddenly, those dollar-a-day families can afford to send a child to school (in most third world countries, education is not free like it is here in America). They buy or rent more land to grow more crops. They buy more goods from their neighbors, who, in turn, buy better seeds, or better fertilizer that will increase their yields. Maybe they can all cooperate and hire transportation to ship their products to a better market. Maybe they invest in a drip irrigation system so that they have crops when crops are scarce and they can get a premium price for them. The possibilities of doubling an income are endless. So then, how do I, an "agricultural missionary" double someone's income? Just ask them "what is it that keeps you from making two dollars a day?" Sounds simple, and it is. These dollar-a-day farmers know what they need to increase their income, they just do not have the means to acquire it. It takes every penny they make to survive.
A couple of months back when I was a couple of months ahead of leaving for my mission trip (aforementioned in this blog) I was faced with the delima of trying to raise the funds to pay for the trees that we planned to purchase for the Taiama Farm in Sierra Leone. I thought of several ways to raise money, but the simplist was to just put the word out and have people sponsor trees in honor or memory of someone (or themselves). I bought some aluminum embossing tags to hang on the trees and set a price of $5 per tree. The actual cost of the trees ranged from $3.90 to $4.60 but the extra would pay for shipping the trees to the farm. Would anyone buy a tree? Could I hope to pay for all the trees? The wait was not long.
The money came in slowly but surely. Day by day, week by week it came. And it came, and it came, and it came. I made tags, and more tags, and more tags! Thank goodness some people just bought trees and didn't care to have names on tags or I would have had to order more tags with little hope for them arriving in time. More than 300 trees have been purchased and my heart has been so warmed by this that I think you could fry an egg on my chest. I cannot wait to see the impact.
The kinds of trees were Avocado, Plantain, Mandarin, Grapefruit, Pineapple, Lemon, Moringa, and Calliandra. These latter two trees are special soil improving trees that fix nitrogen in the soil and increase yields of vegetable crops grown around them. They are planted closely spaced in rows with vegetable inbetween. This process is called alley farming (see picture).
In particular, the Moringa tree is also called the "miracle tree." Its leaves are edible and highly nutritious. It grows in even the poorest of soils and makes excellent animal fodder and compost for vegetable crops. The Moringa is also being investigated for its incredible pharmicological properties. Please go to www.treesforlife.org and search "Moringa." You will be amazed.
So, I leave for Sierra Leone in 11 days. On New Year's Day i'll be planting trees, building a composting operation, educating the farmers about utilizing the Moringa, maybe working with the school kids on gardening, or who knows what else. I will be working day by day, contemplating life by the hour, and living in the moment. Oh, and loving every second of it. What will you be doing?
Did you know that there are about a billion people on the planet that live on less than a dollar a day? We here in the affluent West, the developed nations, the all-powerful, all-consuming nations of the world, eat too much, buy too much, and consume too much. We waste and think little about conservation. While nearly 20% of the population of the world live each day on little more than we pay for a candy bar. Now, I do not advocate giving these people large sums of money to buy more food. It sounds odd, but money itself does not solve the problem of poverty. What if someone who made a dollar a day could make two dollars a day? I mean, if you could double your income wouldn't you be excited? How much more impact would doubling a dollar-a-day income make for those people than doubling a $50K, $80K, $100K. Suddenly, those dollar-a-day families can afford to send a child to school (in most third world countries, education is not free like it is here in America). They buy or rent more land to grow more crops. They buy more goods from their neighbors, who, in turn, buy better seeds, or better fertilizer that will increase their yields. Maybe they can all cooperate and hire transportation to ship their products to a better market. Maybe they invest in a drip irrigation system so that they have crops when crops are scarce and they can get a premium price for them. The possibilities of doubling an income are endless. So then, how do I, an "agricultural missionary" double someone's income? Just ask them "what is it that keeps you from making two dollars a day?" Sounds simple, and it is. These dollar-a-day farmers know what they need to increase their income, they just do not have the means to acquire it. It takes every penny they make to survive.
A couple of months back when I was a couple of months ahead of leaving for my mission trip (aforementioned in this blog) I was faced with the delima of trying to raise the funds to pay for the trees that we planned to purchase for the Taiama Farm in Sierra Leone. I thought of several ways to raise money, but the simplist was to just put the word out and have people sponsor trees in honor or memory of someone (or themselves). I bought some aluminum embossing tags to hang on the trees and set a price of $5 per tree. The actual cost of the trees ranged from $3.90 to $4.60 but the extra would pay for shipping the trees to the farm. Would anyone buy a tree? Could I hope to pay for all the trees? The wait was not long.
The money came in slowly but surely. Day by day, week by week it came. And it came, and it came, and it came. I made tags, and more tags, and more tags! Thank goodness some people just bought trees and didn't care to have names on tags or I would have had to order more tags with little hope for them arriving in time. More than 300 trees have been purchased and my heart has been so warmed by this that I think you could fry an egg on my chest. I cannot wait to see the impact.
The kinds of trees were Avocado, Plantain, Mandarin, Grapefruit, Pineapple, Lemon, Moringa, and Calliandra. These latter two trees are special soil improving trees that fix nitrogen in the soil and increase yields of vegetable crops grown around them. They are planted closely spaced in rows with vegetable inbetween. This process is called alley farming (see picture).
In particular, the Moringa tree is also called the "miracle tree." Its leaves are edible and highly nutritious. It grows in even the poorest of soils and makes excellent animal fodder and compost for vegetable crops. The Moringa is also being investigated for its incredible pharmicological properties. Please go to www.treesforlife.org and search "Moringa." You will be amazed.So, I leave for Sierra Leone in 11 days. On New Year's Day i'll be planting trees, building a composting operation, educating the farmers about utilizing the Moringa, maybe working with the school kids on gardening, or who knows what else. I will be working day by day, contemplating life by the hour, and living in the moment. Oh, and loving every second of it. What will you be doing?
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